Cities lost more jobs than suburbs in last downturn

Wednesday

Nov 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2007 at 6:40 AM

Jon Chesto

Jobs were leaving urban centers at a faster pace than in the suburbs in Massachusetts from 2001 through 2006, while those declines were offset somewhat by job gains in the southeastern and western parts of the state.

That’s the latest assessment of the state’s employment trends provided in a report released today by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth – a Boston think tank more commonly known as MassINC – and Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies.

The report shows that jobs have fallen by 3.6 percent from the labor market’s last peak at the beginning of 2001 through the middle of 2006, when the state had begun to recover from a recession. That rate puts Massachusetts in second-to-last place, behind Michigan, among all states for job creation over that timeframe.

The job declines occurred despite a boom in the state’s biotechnology industry. The biotech industry added about 10,000 jobs during the six years, representing a growth rate of 15 percent – or twice the national average.

“What’s hurting us is there just aren’t that many sectors that are producing this growth for us,” said Andrew Sum, a Northeastern University professor and the lead author of the report. “We’re relying far too much on health care and biotech to carry us. We just don’t have enough broad-based growth.”

Big cities accounted for a disproportionate share of the lost jobs in the state. The 10 biggest cities’ payrolls fell by 6.6 percent. Of the top 20 cities, only Brockton and New Bedford gained jobs. Quincy’s work force remained relatively stable, with a job loss of only 0.5 percent from 2001 to 2006. Brockton’s jobs, meanwhile, grew by 3.5 percent.

Boston lost 6.9 percent of its jobs, and Cambridge’s jobs fell by 8.6 percent – despite both cities’ job gains at the tail end of the five-year period.

Sum said Boston’s work force suffered amid a wave of corporate consolidations that included the acquisitions of local stalwarts such as Gillette, Filene’s and Fleet.

He attributes losses in some of the state’s industrial cities to an ongoing decline in manufacturing jobs.

Some suburban towns such as North Andover, Wilmington and Littleton that were heavily reliant on high-tech and telecom companies saw much larger job losses than those seen in the cities.

However, some suburban towns that do not have a large technology base also saw significant job losses. Randolph, for example, lost 21.8 percent of its jobs over the period covered by the report, and Avon’s jobs fell by 19.7 percent. Those towns were ranked No. 2 and No. 3 for job losses among communities with at least 5,000 jobs.

But many towns in Plymouth County and on Cape Cod saw significant job gains. Jobs grew by 3 percent on Cape Cod, and by 5.7 percent in Plymouth County.

Sum said job growth in parts of Southeastern Massachusetts has largely been driven by the population growth in those areas as people moved further from Boston in search of more affordable homes. That population growth in lower Plymouth County and the Upper Cape helped spur increases in local service and retail jobs.

Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.

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